Okla-homey
12/26/2008, 10:00 AM
December 26, 1944: Patton relieves Bastogne
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/4965/macbastogneiy9.jpg
64 years ago on this day, General George S. Patton employs an audacious strategy to relieve the besieged Allied defenders of Bastogne, Belgium, during the brutal Battle of the Bulge.
The capture of Bastogne was a major German goal of the Battle of the Bulge, the German offensive through the Ardennes forest. Bastogne provided a road junction in rough terrain where few roads existed and it would open up a valuable pathway further north for German expansion.
The Belgian town was defended by elements of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, which had to be reinforced by troops who straggled in from other battlefields. Food, medical supplies, and other resources eroded as bad weather and relentless German assaults threatened the Americans' ability to hold out.
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/9490/macmcauliffels8.jpg
BG Tony Mac Auliffe
Nevertheless, the 101st Airborne Divisional Artillery commander Brigadier General Anthony C. MacAuliffe met a German surrender demand with a typewritten response of a single word: "Nuts."
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/7/macnutsss5.jpg
Enter "Old Blood and Guts," General Patton. Employing a complex and quick-witted strategy wherein he literally wheeled his 3rd Army a sharp 90 degrees in a counterthrust movement, Patton broke through the German lines and entered Bastogne, relieving the valiant defenders and ultimately pushing the Germans east across the Rhine.
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/7730/mactribute3eg2.jpg
Tribute to Gen. MacAuliffe in modern Bastogne
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/2439/macmcauliffe650es7.jpg
Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe, Commander of Division Artillery of the 101st Airborne Division, speaks to flight crew members of the 434th Troop Carrier Group at their base in England on Sept. 18, 1944, prior to the allied invasion of Holland, code named 'MARKET-GARDEN'. 'MARKET' was the code name for the airborne half of the operation, and 'GARDEN', the name for the ground forces mission.
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/4965/macbastogneiy9.jpg
64 years ago on this day, General George S. Patton employs an audacious strategy to relieve the besieged Allied defenders of Bastogne, Belgium, during the brutal Battle of the Bulge.
The capture of Bastogne was a major German goal of the Battle of the Bulge, the German offensive through the Ardennes forest. Bastogne provided a road junction in rough terrain where few roads existed and it would open up a valuable pathway further north for German expansion.
The Belgian town was defended by elements of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, which had to be reinforced by troops who straggled in from other battlefields. Food, medical supplies, and other resources eroded as bad weather and relentless German assaults threatened the Americans' ability to hold out.
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/9490/macmcauliffels8.jpg
BG Tony Mac Auliffe
Nevertheless, the 101st Airborne Divisional Artillery commander Brigadier General Anthony C. MacAuliffe met a German surrender demand with a typewritten response of a single word: "Nuts."
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/7/macnutsss5.jpg
Enter "Old Blood and Guts," General Patton. Employing a complex and quick-witted strategy wherein he literally wheeled his 3rd Army a sharp 90 degrees in a counterthrust movement, Patton broke through the German lines and entered Bastogne, relieving the valiant defenders and ultimately pushing the Germans east across the Rhine.
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/7730/mactribute3eg2.jpg
Tribute to Gen. MacAuliffe in modern Bastogne
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/2439/macmcauliffe650es7.jpg
Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe, Commander of Division Artillery of the 101st Airborne Division, speaks to flight crew members of the 434th Troop Carrier Group at their base in England on Sept. 18, 1944, prior to the allied invasion of Holland, code named 'MARKET-GARDEN'. 'MARKET' was the code name for the airborne half of the operation, and 'GARDEN', the name for the ground forces mission.